HISTORY OF VON SCHATT

In Daub’s picaresque adventure novel, set during the 20th century’s two world wars, a German orphan becomes the despotic head of a family in America.

Heinrich von Schatt begins his life inauspiciously. His father is shot and killed by Adolf Hitler in World War I, and his mother subsequently abandons him to an orphanage in Bremerhaven, Germany; she then dies on a freighter headed for Brooklyn, New York. Heinrich grows into a strange boy who inspires fear in others; readers repeatedly receive variations of this ominous judgment: “His soul was dark as the sea herself….” He yearns to become a seafaring captain, constantly reading books on the subject and poring over nautical charts. At 13, he’s no longer obliged to attend school, and he finds a job on the commercial freighter Iron Maiden as first officer. He’s a prodigiously talented seaman and makes a small fortune trafficking contraband. However, in 1936, after he kills a Nazi officer who’s abusing an elderly Jewish man, he must flee. This is only the beginning of Heinrich’s varied adventures, which include running off to New York City in 1943with a young Swedish bride, Ingrid Sandström, against her father’s wishes, and becoming the captain of the USS Flatbushduring World War II. The novel revolves around Heinrich’s life, but the author always keeps him at arm’s length; as a result, the inscrutable protagonist never feels entirely real. However, this is congruent with the fabulist nature of the book—one that’s closer to Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote than a typical bildungsroman. Sometimes, the action has a scattershot quality; time moves at a blurred pace, and readers may feel overwhelmed by the quickness of events. Still, Heinrich emerges as an intriguing figure who’s both indefatigable and imperious, and Daub sometimes portrays these traits humorously, as when Heinrich reacts to the news of his daughter’s birth: “But, Heinrich, isn’t she beautiful?” “Next time I expect a son! This is an order!” Overall, it’s a delightful book about a person who inspires no delight.

An often enjoyable tale of an unpleasant man.